Apparatus for filling bags



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APPARATUS FOR FILLING BA S Patented July 14, 1953 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- APPARATUS FOR FILLING BAGS Carl W. Spohr, Chicago, Ill., assiznor to The Curtiss Candy Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application March 12, 1946, Serial No. 653,724

Claims. (01. zze -z) ent No. 2,284,928 I have disclosed a machine for automatically taking the lollipops from their molds and hanging them on a cooling conveyor, each lollipop hanging from a horizontal pin. Ac-' cording to the present invention, the lollipops are automatically taken from the cooling conveyor and packaged, each lollipop being inserted into a tubular shaped bag which is then sealed.

In the preferred form of the invention, two packaging machines are positioned one over the other so that an attendant can attend to both of them at once and the lollipops from a single cooling chain are divided between the two packaging machines so that the entire output of one cooling chain moving at relatively high speed can be, handled by packaging machinery running at half that speed.

Not only are the bags filled automatically, but, if a lollipop is missing when it should be dropped into a bag, that fact is indicated and the bag is not advanced until a lollipop is supplied.

Additional objects and'advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is aside view of the apparatus chosen for illustration of the invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are, respectively, side and top views of the portion of the machine indicated at the right-hand end of Fig. 1, these views being taken as from the far side of the Fig. 1 structure so that the lollipops move from left to right, instead of from right to left as in Fig. 1;

. Figs. 4 and 5 are views corresponding to Figs. 2 and 3 but showing the next portion of the structure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a vertical, sectional view through the bag filling portion of the machine, being taken approximately on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. '7 is a top view of the bag-fil1ing portion and associated parts, being taken approximately on the line 7-1 of Fig. l;

Fig. 8 is a vertical, sectional view showing particularly the electric eyemechanism and is taken approximately on the line 8--B of Fig. '7;

. Fig. 9 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view taken approximately on the line 9-9 of Fig. 7

for showing the initial part of the device for blowing the bags open;

Fig. 10 is a view corresponding to Fig. 9 but showing a later part of the blow-open device, be- 1 ing taken approximately on the line Ill-ll] of Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken approximately on the line lI-l I of Fig. 1;

Fig. 12 is a longitudinal, vertical, sectional view taken approximately on the line l2-l2 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken approximately on the line l3-l3 of Fig. 6 and.

showing the mechanism controlled by the electric eye for controlling the feed of the bags.

Although the law requires a full and exact description of atleast one form of the invention,

such as that which follows, it is, of course, the.

purpose of a patent to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how it may later be disguised by variations in form or additions of further improvements; and the appended claims are intended to accomplish this purpose by particularly pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

General operation The loop-handled lollipops are supplied to the machine of this invention by a cooling chain ll. As seen best in Fig. 3, this chain has a series of headed pins l2 from each of which, automatically, one lollipop L will hang as seen in Fig. 2.

As seen in Fig. 3, a stationary cam l4 slides all of the lollipops along the pins 12 to a position adjacent the chain ll. tary pusher I6 then pushes alternate lollipops off of pins [2 onto pins ll carried by a receiving chain or conveyor 18'. The remaining lollipops are carried by chain ll against a stationarycam l9 which pushes the lollipops onto pins ll carried] by a second receiving chain l8. As seen in Figs. 1 and 4, the chain I8 carries its lollipops downwardly while the chain l8 carries its lollipops horizontally. One leadsto the lower packaging apparatus and the other leads to the upper pack-.

aging apparatus. The two packaging machines together, one above the other, are able to handle the entire output from a fairly fast-moving cooling chain ll. Because of the relative positions of the machines, one attendant can easily attend to both of, them.

Bags are fed by bag feeders 2| to the bite between the horizontal opposed chains 22. The

As seen in Fig. 5, a ro- .ond bevel gear I.

, 3 feeding units are adequately described in my copending application, Ser. No. 643,014, now Patent No. 2,556,989, and need not be described in detail here, the disclosure of said application being incorporated herein by reference. For present purposes it is suflicient to note that the bags B in Fig. 11 are blown between suitable guides including "guides 23 until they come "to rest 7 against stop fingers 24 carried by one of the chains. While the bags are held against the movair, the. chains, 22 are brought into engagement with the lower ends of the bags. course of the chains is controlledtby:chainguides 26 as seen in Fig. 8. a

The bags are carried by chain 22 under a blowing head 21 which is provided ,with. a plurality of q ports arranged for blowing the bag" open.

While each bag is held open by suction heads 28 on the Opposite sides thereof (Fig. 8) and by aiblastof air from a nozzle 12 (Fig. l 2) ,,-a -lollicomplish-e'd with .the aid ofan electric eye'm echanism seen inFig. 8. When the beam of the eye passes-through a hole 3|..in guide plate .32 and a hole 33 in sprocket 34, wit:strikes thephoto electric or flight-sensitive tube 36 and operates ampiifier 33 toac'tuate a.solenoid.38 inFig. 1'. The solenoid raises a.link.39 which, as best seen in Fig. 13, raises pawl 4!. so that it-will not drive ratchetwheel 42. Theratchetxwheel 42 is geared to the bag :feed :chains .22 .and, when it isnot driven, the bagsare not advanced.

As the-bags leave thechains 22 they pass between belts M whichcarry the bags so that their upper portions .pass between -.the heated .rolls .of aDoughboy sealer 46.

- Lollipop transfer -unit After the lollipops are pushed .close .to chain H by stationary cam l4, they ;are .held thereby guide 4"! 'until reaching thefirst transferdposie tion. I

. The .transfer of lollipops from the cooling Icon-1 veyor H to'the receiving conveyors l8 andil8 is .shown .in Fig. 5.. The cooling conveyorll passes under and engages .a sprocket .48. which turns a bevel 49 which engages and turns a sec This drives a rotary pusher l6 s o that it makes-one revolutionfor each four of the pins 12 which pass it. The relative position of the pins with .respectto the ends of the pusher l6 are such that each end of pusherlfi, as it approaches pins [1' engages the handle of a dollipop andapushesyit off .of the pin 5" 01.1130 a pin .,I],,. premature release from pins .l2' being prevented, by. :guide plate 50. The next :lollipop. passes th'epusher I6 untouched. -.;In;0ther'words,

. theqpusher engages {every alternateclollipop an of its pins .|.'l..although itreceivesonly half of To facilitate the lollipops from the chain H. the transfer, the pins -l'l'- are"position ed*at-a level slightly lowerthan thepins 12-. The rela-- .ing stop fingers 24 by the pressure of a jet oftive timing is such that a fast-moving pin 12 catches up with the slower-moving pin l1 just as they reach the position at which the transfer occurs.- The chain I8 is then led over a sprocket 52 from which it extends down to the lower packaging machine. The return run of the chain I8 extends over a sprocket 53, around idler sprockets 5'4, 'and' then' 'a'roimd sprocket-'56} Which' is fast on shaft 51 which is also fastto' a" sprocket 58. The sprocket 56 is half the size of the sprocket 58 thereby assuring that chain [8 moves at half .j the speed of'chain H and keeps in a predeter- The inward minedtimed relationship therewith.

. Either the chain H or the chain l8 may be *driven at 'any point.

It may be assumed that the chain I I is driven at a point not shown and I that it drives chain i8 through shaft 51.

Shaft 51 also drives a chain 59 as seen best in Fig; '3. As seen in Figs. 4 and 5, a chain 59 drives a sprocket 6! which through shaft 62 drives a sprocket 63 around which receiving. conveyor chain l8,runs. Thus the chain 18 is driven at the .same speed as the chain [8' which is half the speed of the cooling conveyor ll.

Aschain II and I8. move past stationary cam 19, seen irrFig. 5, the cam engages the handles of the lollipops and slides'them from pins l2 ontopinsril which, at the moment of transfer,

will be .spaced slightly below the .pins- [2. .In

order that vibrations or swinging of the lollipops will not cause them to slideoff of the'spins IT, a

further stationary cam :64 may be provided for sliding the lollipops close to the .chain [8. .In

, Bag filling Lollipops on chains l8-and [8 are handledin the same way, one packaging machine being :be-

low the other. Hence, it will be sufiicient to 'describe the operationsand structure with respect 7 to chain [8 and the upper packaging machine.

By the bag feeding apparatus disclosed .in my co-pending application, Ser. No. 643,014, now- Patent No, 2,556,989, an "endless succession of bags B is fed betweenguides 23 (Fig. 11) which may beflared at theirreceiving end to facilitate entry of: the bags. bags maybe fed atria time, being secured to a common bag set. These12 bags may be called a bag set: Each bag set ispressed against 'a stop or registration finger 24 carried by one-'of'the chains. 22 so that as the-chains come together 55; to grip the bag set between .themgthe bag 'sets position, with respect to the chain,-will be accurately predetermined so that each bag 'will come torest at the bag-filling position.

Before reaching the bag-filling position, the

bagpasses under air blast nozzles for opening the bag. )Initially, the top of the bag is closely confined by guides 61 so that the jet'of air-from orifice 68 is directed with adequate strength into the mouth of the bag was to bulge its sides as seen in Fig. 9. As'seen in Fig. 7, the receiving end of .the guides 6! is flared to facilitate'entry of the bag mouth between them. After the bag is past jet 68, it passes out from the narrow guides 61 and comes under orifices 69 me zone where the bag lies between more widely spaced guides 'll. Here the mouth of the bag is blownopen-to a width appropriate for receiving the lollipops.

At the lollipop receiving position; the bag comes under theinfluence ofablast of air from nozzle 12 and also, its sides aresubjecte d to suction from As a matter of convenience l2 suction hoses 13 (Fig. 8). This suction is preferably applied at the very top of the bag to prevent the downward blast from folding the edge inwardly. Thus the bag is reliably held open for receiving the lollipops as they are dropped into the bags, the lollipops being guided by a flared guide 10. i

The lollipops are dropped into the bags by being pushed nearly off of the pins [1 by stationary cam 29. Before they are pushed off, the body of the lollipop will have been guided to an appropriate position by guide plate 32. A restraining plate i4 may be positioned to prevent the lollipops from slipping off of the pins I! too soon. A cam plate 75 (Fig. 7) is preferably loosely suspended as seen in Fig. 12 to rest mainly on the pin ll from which the lollipop is being pushed to engage the lollipop handle above the pins, this being the most reliable point for the final push off to control the position of final release.

Drive 0 bag conveyor As seen best in Fig. 6, the chains 22 are driven by sprockets it carried by shaft Ti. The shafts T1 are driven by worm wheels 18 which, as seen.

best in Fig. '7, are driven by worms 79. on shaft 8|. As seen in Fig. 13, the shaft 8i is fast onpla'te 82 which is driven by ratchet wheel 42 through a pin 83 carried by ratchet wheel 42. The ratchet wheel 42 is driven by pawl 4i which is reciprocated by pivoted link 84 which in turn is reciprocated by eccentric link 86 and eccentric 87. The eccentric 87 is carried by shaft 88 which, as seen in Fig. 12, is driven by gears 89 which in turn are driven by sprocket 9| which is driven by chain 18 distance equal to the spacing between the centers, of the bags so as to present a new bag to the receiving position. Theexact position at which. the bag comes to rest can be determined by ad justing screws 32, as seen in Fig. 13, which adjusts the position of plate 82 with respect to ratchet wheel 42. Stop lugs 85 on ratchet wheel 42 engage a shoulder 98 on link 84 toprevent overrunning of ratchet wheel 42. Timing of the bag movements is accomplished by adjustment screws 95 which change the angularity of cocentric 8? on shaft 88.

Electric eye It is desirable not to advance the bags unless the bag at the receiving position has been filled.

If the lollipop candy is not fed into the lollipop machine steadily, there will occasionally be a pin I'i which has no lollipop hanging therefrom. The purpose of the electric eye shown in Fig. 8 is to detect this factand prevent the advancing of the bags until a lollipop arrives to be dropped into the bag waiting in the receiving position.

A light bulb s3, through a suitable lense system, projects a beam of light 94 toward-photosensitive tube 36. Except at the instant when a lollipop is due in the position shown in Fig. 8,

this beam is cut on by sprocket 34.

As seen in Fig. 12, the Sprocket 34 has a mum:

Each such movement of her of apertures 33 therein, one of which appears in the position shown in Fig. 8 each time that a pin lireaches the position shown in Fig. 8. If no lollipop hangs from the pin H, the beam of light will pass through aperture 33 and strike photocell 36. substantially cuts off this beam so that the photocell 36 is not actuated. Accordingly, during most of the time, when the operation is normal, there is no operation of the photoelectric equipment by the electric beam.

When, due to the absence of a lollipop, the light beam strikes a photocell 36, it actuates amplifier 31 to cause energization of the solenoid 33 in Fig. 1. This solenoid raises the link 39 in Fig. 13 holding the pawl 4i out of engagement with the teeth of ratchet wheel 42.

Sealing passed from the bite of chains, which will not be until after they have been filled, the chains will maintain control of them. By the time they are released by the chains, they willbe between constantly driven belts 44. The belts 44 grip the bags rather loosely, at least initially, so as not to tear them while they are in the control of the chains 22. These belts are preferably vibrated by any suitable mechanism 91 so as to shake the lollipop to the bottom of the bag if it did not fall there initially. The belts carry the bagsbetween guide plates. 96 which guide the mouths of the bags between the heated rollers of fDoughboy sealers ,46. The bags then pass to the discharge end of the machine where they may be. packaged in boxes, manually or auto.- matically, or otherwise disposed of.

Other features and details to be swung. into position to push off all lollipopsbefore they reach the filling position in case any trouble develops. These ejected lollipops fall into a suitable chute to slide out of the machine to a bin. Preferably there is room for a be adjustable preferably is provided to keep the bag set from being blown off the bottom slide. 7 The bag feeding chains 22 preferablyhave curved-faced links staggered so that they slightly crinkle the bottom of the bag set. The bag set is held more by this type of gripping than by a positive clamping, thus giving a resilienteffect.

The chain l I may be held up against sprocket 48 by a suitable idler sprocket or guide block spaced a little from the sprocket 48. From the foregoing it is seen that packaging apparatus has been provided in which the output of a cooling conveyor is divided between two packaging units, one above the other, both of which can be attended by the same attendant and each of which automatically drops lollipops into successive bags and automatically holds up the movement of the bags when a lollipop is missing. Of course, other articles couldbe handled in a similar manner.

I claim:

,1. The combination of a preliminary conveyor When thelollipop is present, it

7 having succession of article-carrying pins and two receiving conveyors running adjacent to successive portions of the preliminary conveyor and having article-carrying pins on each, opposed to and at times approximately aligned with the pins on the preliminary conveyor, a rotating arm device operating in timed relation to the preliminary conveyor for pushing intermittent articles from' the pins thereof to the pins of one of the receiving conveyors, and a stationary cam for pushing onto the pins of the other receiving conveyor the articles coming adjacent thereto on the preliminary conveyor. 7

2. The combination or" a preliminary conveyor having a succession of article-carrying pins and two receiving conveyors running adjacent to successive portions of the preliminary conveyor and having article-carrying pins on each, opposed to and at times approximately aligned with the pins on the preliminary conveyor, a device operating in timed relation to the preliminary conveyor for pushing intermittent articles from the pins thereof to the pins of one of the receiving conveyors, and a stationary cam for pushing onto the pins of the other receiving conveyor the articles coming adjacent thereto on the preliminary conveyor.

3. Apparatus for filling bags including a conveyor for carrying articles at predetermined positions thereon, means for driving the article conveyor, a reciprocating pawl constantly driven by said driving means with a frequency corresponding to the frequency the article carrying positions of the conveyor pass a given point, a ratchet wheel engaged by said pawl and actuated by it with step-by-step movement, a bag conveyor driven by said'ratchet wheel with corresponding step-by-step movement, means for releasing the articles from the article conveyor at a predetermined point, said conveyors being so disposed that the article then fills the bag, a detector for detecting the presence or absence of an article to be packaged when such article is due at a particular point, and means responsive to said detector if no article appears at said point when due for shifting the pawl so that it will not engage the ratchet wheel. V

4. Apparatus for filling bags including a conveyor for carrying articles, means for driving the article conveyor, a reciprocating pawl constantly driven by said driving means, a ratchet wheel engaged by said pawl and actuatedby it with step-by-step movement, a 'bag'conveyor, means driven by said ratchet wheel for driving the bag conveyor with corresponding step-by-step movement, means for releasing the articles from the article conveyor at a predetermined point, said conveyors being so'disposed that the article then fills the bag, means for adjusting the angularity between the first-named driving means. and'the pawl-operating means driven therebyi for determining the timing of the movements of the bag conveyor, and means for adjusting the angularity between the ratchet wheel and the means for driving the bag conveyor for 'adjusting'the positions at which the bag conveyor comes to rest.

5. Apparatus for packaging articles including conveyor means adapted to grasp bags a'djacent the lower ends thereof, means adapted to feed bags to the conveyor means in'a predetermined relationship thereto, a pinco'nveyor including endless means and pins carried thereby, means for hanging articles to be packaged on the pins of said conveyor, fixed pulleys for supporting and, during the period articles are hung on the pins,

for moving a portion of the endless conveyor along a substantially straight line to position the ends of the pins successively approximately over the bags at a bag-filling position at a height to hold the articles entirely above the bags, means for causing relative withdrawal of the pin support from the articles at said position to drop the articles into the bags, detector means for determining the presence or absence of an article when it is due at a predetermined position, and means controlled by the detector means for controlling the feed of the bags to delay the feed of the bags when an article has been missed until the next article is supplied.

6, Apparatus for packaging articles including conveyor means adapted to grasp bags adjacent the lower ends thereof, means adapted to feed bags to the conveyor means in a predetermined relationship thereto, a pin conveyor including endless means and pins carried thereby, means for hanging articles to be packaged on the pins of said conveyor, fixed pulleys for supporting and, during the period articles are hung on the pins, for moving a portion of the endless conf veyor along a substantially straight line to position the ends of the pins successively approximately over the bags at a bag filling position 'at a height to hold the articles entirely above the bags, and means for causing relative withdrawal of the pin support from the articles at said position to drop the articles into the bags.

7. Apparatus for packaging articles including conveyor means, meansadapted to feedrbags to the conveyor means in a predetermined 1' relationship thereto, a pin conveyor including endless means and pins carried thereby, means for hanging articles to be packaged on the pins of said conveyor, fixed pulleys for supporting and, during the period articles are hung on the pins, for moving a portion of the endless conveyor along a substantially straight line to position the ends of the pins successively approximately over the bags at a bag-filling position at a height to hold the articles entirely above the bags, means for causing relative withdrawal of the pin support from the articles .at said position to drop the articles into the bags, detector means for determining the presence or absence of an article when it is due at a predetermined position, and means controlled by the detector means for controlling the feed of the bags to delay the feed of the bags when an article has been missed until the next article is supplied.

8. Apparatus for packaging articles including conveyor means, means adapted to feed bags to the conveyor means in a predetermined relationship thereto, a pin conveyorincluding endless means and pins carried thereby, means for hanging articles to be packaged on the pins of said conveyor, fixed pulleys for supporting and,-

during the period articles are hung on the pins, for moving a portion of the endless conveyor along a substantially straight line to position the ends of the pins successively approximately over the bags at a bag-filling position at a height to hold the articles entirely above the bags,v and means for causing relative withdrawal of the pin support from the articles at said position to drop the articles into the bags.

9. Apparatus for filling bags including a conveyor carrying spaced-apart articles, a bag conveyor, means for releasing the successive articles from the article conveyor at a predetermined point to drop them into open bags successively positioned to receive them, deactivating means for rendering the bag conveyor temporarily inoperative to feed the bags, and control means for the deactivating means including detector means comprising a source of light and a photocell for detecting the presence or absence of an article to be packaged when such article is due to be carried between said source and said photocell to block said light, blocking means adapted to prevent the said passage of light, and means for moving said blocking means in timed relationship with the movement of the spaced-apart articles to move the blocking means from its blocking position when an article is due to be carried between the source and the photocell and to move the blocking means into a blocking position and hold it there until the next article is due.

10. Apparatus for filling bags including a conveyor for carrying spaced-apart articles, a bag conveyor, means for releasing the articles from I the article conveyor at a predetermined point to drop them into open bags positioned by the bag conveyor to receive them, detector means comprising a source of light and a photocell for detecting the presence or absence of an article to be packaged when such article is due to be carried between said source and said photocell to block the light, blocking means adapted to prevent the said passage of light, means for moving said blocking means in timed relationship with the movement of the spaced-apart articles to move the blocking means from its blocking position when an article is due to be carried between the source and the photocell and to move the blocking means into a blocking position and hold it there until the next article is due, and deactivating means responsive to the detector means when the absence of an article is detected for rendering the bag conveyor temporarily inoperative to feed the bags.

CARL W. SPO-HR.

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